Music Soup Interview

Music Soup ‘s debut album “Cut To The Chase” has been chosen as The Best Greek Jazz Album of the year 2016 by both Readers Poll & Critics Poll. This is quite an achievement ! But you could tell something was happening. From the first day, the album got excellent reviews abroad and it was released by Tony Monaco, a master in the Hammond organ in jazz. Jazzonline.gr to has met Evgenia Karlafti & Nestor Dimopoulos for a little chat about this great success.

1- How long this trio was formed and how long have you been playing together ( as a trio) Music Soup concept has been formed ten years ago, but only the last five years we have been playing together as an organ trio.

2- Where the name Music Soup come from ? A soup is a kind of mix things; is that what you mean ?We all like to listen and play different styles and sometimes mix the musical genres, but at the same time we strive to have our own sound. So to come to your question it is like a mix of things, and the reason we liked this name is because it doesn't sound too serious and “academic”.

3- Why did wait 10 years to release your first album ? We had the recording of an album in mind for several years, and now we felt that the time was right. Have been playing for all those ten years as Music Soup, we realized that we had developed our own identity. That is why we decided to do our first album with all original compositions. Vagelis joined the group the last 3-4 years and he immediately got into the spirit of this project, bringing his ideas and musical taste and talent. He was the missing part of the puzzle.

4- Cut to the Chase has been acclaimed by the critics and the public in Greece, but also abroad. Did you expect this and how does it feel to get such a recognition with the first album ?Once we finished the recording and mixing of the album, we sent it to Tony Monaco's , Chicken Coup Records to see if he would be interested in releasing it, and when we got a positive answer and his enthusiastic remarks, we were very excited about this. You don't really expect anything, you just do the best you can and wish that your project will find its' way, and people will enjoy it. It is more than we could expect, to have our music played on jazz radios, mostly in USA but also all over the world, next to our musical heroes' , and receive so many positive reviews. So yes, it feels great!

5- Does it make it more difficult for you for your next album ? ( I mean: the standard is high . you have to catch up with people expectations now ). We believe that in some ways it might be more difficult, but in other it might be easier. Surely now there is some reference- something to compare, that you have to keep in mind, but there is also some experience and knowledge gained. We already have a lot of material and ideas and we hope that we will have the chance to record it soon, and enjoy it as much as possible, rather than chase a higher standard.

6- Your motto is “Real Music for real people “. Can you explain it ? In a world that everything is for sale, music has become a product that around it have emerged smaller or bigger businesses such as education, promoters, competitions, various committees, etc ,and everyone tries to sell their product to their targeted market (audience). As a result little boxes and categories have been created, so all of the above can justify themselves and their products; we feel that this approach limits our potential as musicians but also limits the people, that we would like to reach with our music, to a particular kind of audience. So in the middle of this madness we choose to play spontaneously, joyful or not, music for the everyday people who seek to connect and communicate through music.

7- You travel a lot. You were in the far East last year (if no mistake) and you are actually in the Caribbean. What make you travel so much ? Yes you are correct we were in S. Korea last year and currently we are sailing the Caribbean. We are lucky enough to have the opportunity to live and work (even for a while) in different parts of the world. We like traveling, visiting new places, meeting new people and make a living playing music.

8- Have you some performances in Greece in your schedule and what are your plan for the following months ? We will be in the Caribbean until July, so we will not be playing in Greece until then. We have some plans for the winter but nothing conclusive yet.